


A champagne supernova sounds like it would be really messy

by mikansei



Series: All the roads that led us here [2]
Category: Gintama
Genre: Alcohol, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-29
Updated: 2014-09-29
Packaged: 2018-02-19 04:52:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2375276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikansei/pseuds/mikansei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“And Tatsuma – please try to find a hangar instead of docking your ship in his living room.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	A champagne supernova sounds like it would be really messy

“You’re sure you can make time for this?” Katsura’s hands clutch the phone a little tighter.

“Of course! My schedule’s real spread out lately – I have a big delivery tomorrow, but I’m free all next week!”

“Good,” Katsura sighs. “I wouldn’t want to put you out.”

“Anything for you guys.”

“Thank you. And Tatsuma – please try to find a hangar instead of docking your ship in his living room,” Katsura chides.

“Ahahaha!”

—

When Gintoki comes home early one afternoon, Sakamoto and Katsura are on his living room couch. He closes the door on them and walks back down the stairs. “Ahahaha, wait wait wait wait!” He hears trailing after him. “So mean, Kintoki, so mean!” Sakamoto throws an arm around his shoulders, holding him in place.

Gintoki scowls. “Who invited you in, you stupid fro? And for the last time, it’s not Kintoki.”

“I got the week off, so I thought I’d come visit!”

Gintoki gives Katsura his best long-suffering look. “Zura, is this your doing?”

Katsura huffs. “Aren’t you glad to see us?”

“No. Now go away and take the fro with you.”

“So mean!” Sakamoto, to his surprise, leads him down the stairs instead of towards the door. “We’re going out drinking, and we’re taking you with us!” Ah, there it was.

“Who said I wanted to go out drinking with you idiots? And Zura, since when are _you_ up for the drunken bender this’ll inevitably turn into?”

Katsura smiles, and Gintoki thinks it looks strange on his face. “Even samurai need to unwind once in a while.”

Gintoki narrows his eyes as he’s led down the street. “This is about last week’s little heart-to-heart, isn’t it? I told you I’m _fine_ – if stuff like that could trip me up for more than a day or two, well, I’d be a mess all the time.”

“I thought it would be nice to see an old friend.” Katsura crosses his arms in the way that means that the topic is not up for debate.

“Ahaha, I’ve missed you too, Kintoki!”

Gintoki shoots Sakamoto a look. “No one asked you.” He sighs as his front door gets further and further away, resigning himself to being abducted for this drinking party. “And my name’s _still_ not Kintoki.”

—

For all Sakamoto’s (many, many) faults, he sure is filthy rich. He treats them well at the cabaret club, spending more on alcohol than Gintoki makes in a month. They catch up with each other – Sakamoto talks about his business, Katsura talks about his faction, and Gintoki complains about the Yorozuya. Gintoki plays interference between Sakamoto and Oryou lest they all get kicked out. Once they're buzzed, Katsura goads them into a political debate (Gintoki hates those, but backing out will mean admitting Katsura is right, and he’s _not_ , damnit).

“Oh hey, Kintoki, I forgot!” Sakamoto butts in to the middle of the debate. “I got a present for you, but I left it at your place!”

“My name’s not—”

“It’s whipped cream flavored vodka!”

“—have I ever told you you’re like a brother to me?”

Sakamoto grins. “I thought of you when I saw it, so I bought three bottles!”

“ _Three_!” Gintoki puts a hand over his heart. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go back!”

Sakamoto pays their tab and they all head back to Gintoki’s place, Gintoki nearly skipping and Sakamoto laughing the whole way. Once they get there Gintoki barely remembers to kick his boots off before diving for Sakamoto’s bag beside the couch. He pulls one of the bottles out; there’s a symbol like a dollop of whipped cream on the front. Gintoki nearly salivates. “Oh, come to mama—” He cradles the bottle lovingly in his arms. Sakamoto uncorks another bottle and Gintoki steals it from him so he can get a taste. “Ohh, mmm…! I’ve reached nirvana.” Sakamoto laughs while Katsura rifles through Gintoki’s cabinets. “Whatcha lookin’ for, Zura?” Gintoki says between sips.

“Your – _hic_! – liquor cabinet. Surely you have one?” He pulls out a sake cup and a tea cup. “And where are the rest of your cups?”

Gintoki opens the cabinet under the sink and carefully puts the other two bottles of vodka in it. “Here. And I dunno, Pattsuan did the dishes last.”

Katsura scoffs. “Most people keep cleaning supplies under the shink.” He takes the contents of the liquor cabinet in his arms, walks carefully to the couch, tries to sit on it and misses entirely, landing on his ass on the floor with a surprised hiccup. The ceramic sake bottles rattle, but nothing breaks. Sakamoto and Gintoki laugh uproariously; Katsura always was a lightweight. Sakamoto takes a long step over Katsura, sitting in the middle of the couch, and Gintoki sits to one side, careful not to spill any of his precious vodka.

They start talking again, the topics much less coherent this time around. Sakamoto tells them about a particularly hilarious trade run that was frought with mishaps the whole way through; Gintoki runs commentary while Katsura appoints himself bartender and pours everyone’s drinks. When they’re good and drunk, they tell Sakamoto stories of their time as Shouyou-sensei’s students (“…And then Takasugi’s shoe fell off onto Sensei’s head, and that’s how Sensei caught us up in the tree.”).

“Hahaha, it’s good to know Takachibi’s always been a bossy little shit!” Sakamoto says. “That reminds me – where is he, anyway? Zura, didn’t you call him too?”

A beat of pure silence. Gintoki swallows. “You didn’t hear?”

Sakamoto frowns. “Hear what?”

“It’s… a long story,” Katsura starts. “There was this swordsmith…”

Gintoki cuts him off. “Skip to the relevant parts. The long and short of it is, he allied with the Harusame and sold them me and Zura’s heads as his entrance fee. The Harusame did their best to try and collect on it, but we got away.”

Sakamoto looks stricken. “Harusame—! No, that’s… that’s not funny.”

Gintoki sets his vodka on the table. “We’re not joking.”

Silence, for a good five minutes. “So he’s really…” Sakamoto finally says; he looks like he’s fighting the urge to vomit. “When did he... what happened to him?”

Katsura leans his head on Sakamoto’s leg. “He never was the same after he lost his eye, but… I never would’ve thought he’d go this far.”

Sakamoto sighs. “Did we miss something back then?”

“Did he always have it in him, and we just didn’t notice?”

Gintoki scratches the back of his head. “I don’t think it matters anymore. S’not like we can go back in time and change anything.” He leans his head on Sakamoto’s shoulder. “The Takasugi we knew is as good as dead.”

The silence percolates. Then Katsura snores, and Sakamoto laughs, and the corner of Gintoki’s mouth quirks up, and the atmosphere’s not so bleak anymore. “Oi, Tatsuma,” Gintoki slurs, “get off the couch, I wanna lay down.”

“But Zura’s on my leg! If I move, he’ll wake up, and if he wakes up, he’ll be mad we let him fall asleep on the floor…”

“More like he’ll be mad we let him fall asleep next to your crotch.”

“Ahahaha! I hope that damn vodka gives you an ulcer, Kintoki! Hahaha!”

—

“…And you left bottles and cans everywhere! Absolutely _everywhere_!” Shinpachi yells. Katsura endures his hangover with a straight back and only a slight wince; Gintoki slumps miserably and pinches the bridge of his nose, willing the headache away. “A bottle tipped over so now the whole living room floor smells like whipped cream and booze! And Katsura-san, I found your haori flung on top the roof! I would’ve thought—”

“Wait, whipped cream?” Gintoki gets up suddenly – and pinches the bridge of his nose again; maybe “suddenly” wasn’t such a good idea – and spots his bottle of vodka on its side, nearly empty. He walks over to it and his feet find a sticky patch of floor. “ _Nooo_ ,” he wails (to Sakamoto and Katsura’s dismay). “Vodka-chan! I’m so sorry!”

“ _Gin-san_!” Shinpachi shrieks, continuing his rant about the mess they made that he has to clean up himself. At some point Kagura wakes up and starts yelling at Shinpachi for yelling so loudly; about the time Shinpachi starts ranting about them setting a bad example for her, Katsura and Sakamoto quietly excuse themselves, and Gintoki gets roped into mopping up the living room floor without their help.

As he mops up the remnants of Vodka-chan while being lectured by a sixteen-year-old boy on the merits of drinking in moderation, life returns to normal, and Gintoki smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> I drew [a picture](http://crybug.tumblr.com/post/70208625574/good-friends-and-a-bad-hangover) of this last year, and just now got around to finishing the fic. Hope you enjoyed~


End file.
